This is an in-universe article with out-of-universe material.
Whiz Comics #107 is an issue of the series Whiz Comics (Volume 1) with a cover date of March, 1949.
Synopsis for "Captain Marvel and the Great Experiment"
Mr. Morris calls in Billy Batson to have him do a follow-up on an "experiment" going on wherein two Native tribes are exchanging populations, involving what seem to be Iñupiat peoples from Northern Alaska and an unnamed Pacific Islander tribe moving to the frozen north, mostly since he thinks it'll make a great story! To do so, Billy calls SHAZAM to summon Captain Marvel and flies off to the Arctic Circle to find the Iñupiat are due to head out, telling them that they will likely not be happy there as this is "their true home," despite them saying they are tired of the cold and just want to live somewhere with sunshine and that they intend to leave via a war surplus plane brought by their leader's son, an Army Air Force pilot. Captain Marvel worries that the plane will likely be overloaded due to its smaller size and they find that this is the case and they cannot get altitude. To solve this, Captain Marvel lifts it up to get them going and decides to follow them to the South Seas. He finds they generally are enjoying things there, stripping off their furs to enjoy the sunshine in boxer shorts as Captain Marvel warns them against sunburn. Taking off, he finds the boat the Pacific Islanders are taking a boat to the North Slope, as they want to enjoy the cold for a bit! Their boat springs a leak because it's also secondhand and Captain Marvel, despite not having any heart in this, carries them there, where they enjoy the beautiful coldness of the snow. However, the second he thinks to leave, a huge snowstorm blows in and the Pacific Islanders find themselves freezing to death, then build too big of a fire inside an igloo before it collapses on them. He rescues another Islander who is buried in a "small avalanche" and another two who find out that Arctic Wolves are not easy to hunt and have been treed.
Captain Marvel tells them he warned against this entirely, since they don't have any winter survival skills whatsoever, but their Chief offers that they could still manage through this, asking what they eat here. Captain Marvel offers they have the "delicacy" of blubber in troves, which they are immediately disgusted by. Captain Marvel leaves to the South Seas again to find that they didn't listen to him and that they've all become sunburned. Captain Marvel manages to make a slightly helpful full-body poultice of mud and leaves to help sooth the skin. However, he soon finds that they've found trouble in trying to use a surfing raft like a kayak and also bloodthirsty sharks. Captain Marvel says this ought to teach them about envying others, before he finds an indigenous woman who can't stand the heat and an indigenous man who can't open break open coconuts with a club and worse, finds he doesn't like the taste of coconut. They are further confounded when 'a tornado just strikes their South Seas island, destroying the entire village. The Iñupiat decide to return home, saying that they couldn't handle rebuilding the village like the Pacific Islanders who Captain Marvel claims are "used to this." Thus, he helps by flying their plane back home to the North Slope. He soon finds a similar situation with the Pacific Islanders and flies their boat back to their nonspecified island home. We see both peoples are happier with what they have as Billy signs off, saying that people who look for where the "grass is greener" will be doomed to disappointment.
Appearing in "Captain Marvel and the Great Experiment"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- An Iñupiat Tribe
- South Sea Islanders
- Sterling Morris
Antagonists:
- Arctic Wolves
- South Sea Sharks
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
- Igloos
- Whale Blubber
- Coconuts
Vehicles:
- An Airplane
- A Raft
Synopsis for "Golden Arrow, the Robin Hood of the West, and the Treacherous Masquerade"
At Dry Gulch, Golden Arrow meets with the Sheriff who needs him to watch things while he visits Shorty Blake and Doc Slocum, the new doctor in town and introduces him to them. Shorty is happy, since having a specialist in town means they've raised $10,000 to build a hospital and the Sheriff is going to meet the Hospital Fund Committee at Doc's place to give it to him. Shorty rides ahead, but says if he's late, they can start without him. That night, they all do so, but Doc Slocum runs off suddenly, saying he left explosives chemicals on the fire, causing an explosion just outside. Golden Arrow, hearing it, rides in and finds that Doc Slocum is gone and likely dead, but everyone else barely survived. Golden Arrow goes in to find his body for a proper burial, but finds a trapdoor, a deep underground passage and a secret panel behind which Shorty Blake is hiding, who knocks him out with a painting he's rigged to fall off the wall when he presses a button on his desk. Shorty ties him to the heavy desk's leg and reveals that there is no Doc Slocum, it was just short in disguise, running back and forth through his tunnel to pull off a $10,000 heist using shoe lifts and a fake beard. He then plants a bunch of dynamite like three candles around the room to blow up the room just like how he "killed" Doc Slocum, but Golden Arrow frays the ropes around his wrists on the desk leg, fires three arrows to stop the three fuses and rides White Wind to the train station to punch out Shorty Blake. Later, he tells the Sheriff about it all, who then offers Golden Arrow could find a real doctor to work at their new hospital they intend to build.
Appearing in "Golden Arrow, the Robin Hood of the West, and the Treacherous Masquerade"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- White Wind
- Sheriff
Antagonists:
- "Shorty" Blake (also in disguise as "Doc Slocum")
Other Characters:
- A train conductor
Locations:
- Earth-S
- American Old West
- Dry Gulch
- American Old West
Items:
- Dynamite
Vehicles:
- A Train
Synopsis for "Lance O'Casey and the Lady Pirate"
Singapore Sal, a "gorgeous pirate," escapes from the law by using a trick gown with a built-in parachute, jumping out of a plane to get picked up by her first mate, Spider. She soon sets off for Samoga Island in the South Seas, which is her secret hideout she intends to establish. However, Singapore Sal & her crew find that Captain Lance O'Casey and 1st Mate Mike Bellew are relaxing with a monkey on the beach and she decides he must die, as she has faced him before and knows he's trouble. Late that night, she rows to the beach with her men, Spider and Patch, to kill Lance, but he wakes up and they route the pirates, try to fight them, get knocked out by Patch and are left bound on the ground for Sal to fire at for target practice ashore. Lance recovers quicker and cuts himself free on a large seashell and unties Mike, returning to the Starfish to board Singapore Sal's ship. Sal manages to signal her ship before they can do so and they blast the Starfish almost entirely out of the water, our two heroes barely surviving. They manage to board her ship anyways by finding the anchor, climbing the keel and slipping into a porthole. They find an elderly pirate smoking a pipe near the ammo dump and knock him out before they decide to make good use of the large boxes of hand grenades they have lying around. Patch and Spider try to ambush them, only for Lance to grab his ankles and pull them out from under him and start up an old-fashioned donnybrook. Sal returns and wings Lance in the arm with a pistol, only for Lance to threaten to throw a grenade into the ammo dump and kill them all. Spider tries to call his bluff, but Sal order they surrender, knowing Lance would do it. Sal swears that though they surrender for now , they'll escape authorities Lance has sent for him and she will personally cut out his heart if it's the last thing she does. Lance casually tells her he doesn't care about that much as he locks her men in their own cargo hold as long as he can get the Starfish fixed!
Appearing in "Lance O'Casey and the Lady Pirate"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Singapore Sal
- Singapore Sal's crew
- Spider
- Patch
- Singapore Sal's crew
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- Atlantic Ocean
- The South Seas
- Samoga Island
Items:
- A parachute
- Cutlasses
- Grenades
- Pistols
Vehicles:
- The Starfish (Lance O'Casey's ship)
- An Airplane
- Singapore Sal's Ship
Synopsis for Freddy Freshman: "Par Excellent!"
Ace and Stooge discover Freddy playing golf poorly and Ace offers as "Captain of the Golf Team," he will help him perfect his swing, cutting a hard swing of grass and dirt into Freddy's face, then watches to smack Freddy in the head on his next backswing. He next complains that Freddy's ball is too "old" and instead takes a fresh one from him with clear intent to drive it into a water hazard. Ace does so then pretends to fish for the ball with Freddy's club, dropping it in the lake himself. Ace tricks him into driving towards Professor Grouch's house, offering that he should try to aim at the house because then he'll miss and not hit it due to inexperience! However, inside Prof. Grouch's house, we find that he's being burgled by a brutish man with a blackjack demanding his pocket watch and wallet, but is knocked out by a sudden golf ball breaking in from the window! Prof. Grouch comes out and Ace and Stooge turn on Freddy, only for him to win $100 in appreciation from him for saving him! Freddy remarks now he has enough money to buy new clubs and actually learn how to play!
Appearing in Freddy Freshman: "Par Excellent!"
Featured Characters:
- Freshman Freddy
Supporting Characters:
- Professor Grouch
Antagonists:
- Ace
- Stooge
- An Unnamed Burglar
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Earth-S
- Podunk University
Items:
- Golf Clubs
- Golf Balls
- A Window
Vehicles:
Synopsis for Ibis the Invincible: "Labyrinth of the Lost!"
A man in a cave in the middle of nowhere screams in fear for his life, but no one hears it in the empty area. That same afternoon, Prince Ibis and Princess Taia arrive at the railroad station as Ibis only now explains that he's come out to this otherwise empty area for his research into the Gorgons, the immortal sisters of the slain Medusa, who he believes to be in the area! About town, a mailman in a gray outfit says that local man Henry Jones has disappeared in the caves looking for his son and hasn't been heard from since (and likely never will be heard from again.) Ibis asks why that's the case and the man says those caves are definitely haunted and otherwise are miles deep. Ibis reasons he'll start his look for the Jones' tomorrow at those caves while Taia insists to go with him. The next day, Ibis and Taia head out to the caves with Ibis holding a ball of string he intends to use if they get separated to mark their trail. Taia is immediately put off by the darkness, especially when a sudden zephyr blows out her lantern. Ibis wishes the Ibistick to glow bright as a beacon. Taia worries that it felt like someone trying to put them into darkness as they soon spot a man who has been turned seemingly turned into a "statue." Taia immediately has a panic attack and her sheer amount of fear drives her to forget her initial fear of running headfirst into a Gorgon. Ibis immediately just races to wherever he can hear her screaming and finds that she's similarly been turned to stone. An ominous shadow and a woman with snakes for hair in a yellow dress who quickly informs him he's invaded the Lair of Stheno the Gorgon. When he says out loud to no one at all that he realizes she's a Gorgon and shouldn't look her in the eyes, she decides to just grab him by the mouth with a scaled arm in a way that somehow still makes him completely able to talk, since he then wishes the Ibistick to give him magical glasses that will ward away the power of a Gorgon. Stheno, finding she cannot just immediately turn him into a disturbingly-realistic statue, sics just real snakes on him, which she assumes he cannot defend against. He proves this wrong by just wishing the ancient hero Perseus himself, lending his sword to him to kill some… normal snakes. Stheno realizes her mistake and tries to scarper, but Ibis hurls the sword through her chest, killing her after she demands her sister avenge her. Ibis suddenly remembers there are three Gorgons and turns to find Euryale is now behind him, seemingly a normal woman and claiming that she was "enchanted" by Stheno. We find that she's merely fawning over him to get to his magic glasses, which she knocks away, breaking them against the cave wall and glares at him, turning Ibis… to stone!
As he feels his body seizing up and his mind dying, Ibis makes his final wish, merely wishing for the Ibistick to save him, creating a magical lightning bolt that restores him to normal. She tries to escape into the labyrinthine caverns, only for Ibis to wish the caves would just crush her to death, releasing Henry Jones, his unnamed son and Princess Taia from the curse of the Gorgons. They all leave the cave together, facing the rising sun as Ibis hopes they never experience a night of terror like that again!
Appearing in Ibis the Invincible: "Labyrinth of the Lost!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Henry Jones
- Henry Jones' Son
- Perseus
- An Unnamed Mailman
- Medusa (Mentioned only) (Deceased)
Locations:
- Earth-S
- The Labyrinth of the Lost
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- Despite the cover, Captain Marvel does not at any time fight two gangsters who have stolen something from the United States Capitol Building.
- This is the second time Ibis has conjured the ghost of a Grecian mythical hero to borrow his sword. First time was in Whiz Comics #97 when he summoned King Theseus of Athens to similarly slay the Minotaur
Trivia
- Freshman Freddy has seemingly (or accidentally) been renamed "Freddy Freshman," which is especially confusing, since it then continues with Ace directly calling him "Freshman Freddy" right next to the title.
See Also